Monthly Summary - May 2009

Here's May:

Swim: 19,876 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 430.03 miles
Cycling (indoors): 1:30 (hours)
Run: 58.65 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 1 session

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 42.25 hours

Weight: 163

May was a really good month for me. My injuries are under control, I'm getting used to Los Angeles, and I was able to get in a lot of good training, including some fun group training with the LA Tri Club, my dad and other friends.

The highlights of the month were yesterday's Palomar ride with my dad and the LA Tri Club training. Yesterday, I posted a report and some pictures from Palomar. I managed to get into the ocean three times (including a one mile swim this morning in Manhattan Beach with Reid) and joined the Griffith Park Brick the last two Tuesdays.

I started pushing myself a little during May and so far, so good. I'm feeling fit and pretty strong. I'm very happy that Canada is still 13 weeks away, but I feel on track with all three sports.

I just signed up for an Olympic distance triathlon - my first triathlon since SOS last fall and my first Olympic distance race since Mighty Hamptons in September 2007! I know I'm more than fit enough to do the race, but I'm curious to see how I do in a "shorter", faster race.

Ocean Swim - May 31
Distance: 1 mile (1,760 yards)
Time: 26 minutes

Run - May 31
Distance: 5.3 miles
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 126
Course: Manhattan and Hermosa Beach
Conditions: Overcast, mid-50's

Palomar Mountain ride

I survived! And had a blast. It was one of the hardest rides I've done - definitely the hardest ride that wasn't 100+ miles - and had more climbing than anything I've done before.

I drove down to San Diego yesterday afternoon, stopping on the way at Will's to pick up his bike case, which he's letting me borrow for the summer. Once I got to San Diego, Dad and I went out for tacos and then hit the sack pretty early.

We got up at 5:45 this morning and looked outside and WTF, it was raining! In San Diego?


We tried to figure out how long the rain would continue and whether or not it was raining at Palomar. Neither of us are necessarily scared of riding in the rain, but it makes everything a lot less fun and given the descents at Palomar, pretty dangerous. The group from the San Diego Trek store that organizes the ride cancels if it's raining. We decided to drive up and hope for the best.

We stopped to pick up my Dad's friend Art and got up to Harrah's Rincon Casino at the base of Palomar Mountain at 8:10. Thankfully, it was a little overcast, but dry and clearing. There was a group of about 60 riders getting ready to hit the road. There was the option of doing a 68 mile route or a 42 mile route, but both went the same way for the first 24.5 miles. The group took off while we were still getting our stuff together, but we quickly took this "before" picture:


We took off just a few minutes behind the Trek group. Dad and I were planning on riding separately and I charged up the road, wondering how many of the riders in front of me I could catch.

On the route we did, there's about a mile warm-up and then you get right into the 11.8 mile climb. This climb is no joke! I heard someone say that it's a constant 7-8% grade the entire way. I have to admit that I don't really know what that means (but if you're interested, you can read about it here), but mostly it just means that it's very steep! The sun was coming out and the sky was clear. My arm warmers came off after about 5 minutes.

The first 6 miles of the climb were comfortable spinning. I felt good and was riding through the groups ahead of me. The next 3 miles were a progressively harder struggle, but I was still feeling OK and riding well. Those last 3 miles though, were killer. I counted each tenth of a mile and every single minute. I had a mini-celebration at each switchback, thinking that maybe it would get easier after "this one". Unfortunately, it didn't let up until the top. In fact, I think the last couple turns were the steepest... or they felt that way anyway!

The views from the ride were awesome. It overlooks these giant valleys, with big horse and cattle farms. (See below - not my picture). During the ride, in addition to the horses and cows, I saw roadrunners, some vulture-looking things eating roadkill, chipmunks and a smushed snake on the side of the road.


I got to the top in 1:29 (a little slower than a 10mph average). At the top, the group re-grouped at a little market and recovered for about 20 minutes. I joined the first group taking off from the store and we flew down the East Grade descent. The descent was great - mid-30's, flowing turns, light traffic. At the bottom of the descent (24.5 miles), the long route turned left and the "short" route turned right. Now, I had thought that after climbing Palomar Mountain, the rest of the ride would be descents and rolling hills. Unfortunately, about 2.5 miles after that left turn, we started another steep climb. This one was only about four miles long. I was pretty much cursing the entire time! After another long, fun descent, we re-grouped again at a market at mile 41.

27.5 miles to go, but at least we were done with the climbing, right?

Back on the road after 18 minutes with a group of six, the last part of the ride started fairly flat. But, of course, the climbing started. One more hill after another. On the flat sections, I was still riding strong (17-20mph), on the descents, I was flying, but those climbs were deadly. They weren't as steep and definitely not as long as the earlier climbs, but my legs were so heavy. With about four or five miles to go, the climbing is done and the last descent begins. I always love descending fast, but I don't think I've ever been as happy as I was at that moment. I flew down the hill! (I did pass the remnants of a bike accident during the descent. I guess the rider was with the Trek group and had already been taken to the hospital. I did get worried about my dad for a split second, but the bike wasn't his or Art's.)

My Dad and Art had finished the 42 mile route about an hour ahead of me and were waiting at the Casino. Their ride went well also.

It was a great ride - a good challenge that was tougher than anything I'll find in a triathlon and a ton of fun to hang out with my Dad. I'll be back to do it again!

Bike - May 28
Distance: 33.7 miles
Time: 2:00
Average heart rate: 127
Course: Redondo Beach/Palos Verdes loop
Conditions: Overcast, low 60's

Swim - May 29
Distance: 3,390 yards (3,100 meters)
Time: 1:07

Bike - May 30
Distance: 68.6 miles
Ride Time: 4:18
Total Time with breaks: 4:56
Average heart rate: 131 (including breaks)
Course: Palomar Mountain long route
Conditions: Sunny, 60's

Catching up

Where oh where do my days of unemployment go? It's amazing how "busy" I can be even though I'm not spending any time at an office!

It was a really good week of training, the big session was a strong Saturday ride on PCH with some climbing in the canyons (up Mulholland, down Encinal). I did the Griffith Park Brick last night and the Speed Circuit swim today. The group training is pretty fun. It's nice to meet new people and so far I've been able to train with people who with similar goals and level of fitness. I held back a little on the Brick last night. I recovered well after last week, but there's no reason to be pushing that hard and risking injury. I did the entire bike and run, but didn't feel any need to "keep up" with the front pack. I feel like last week I proved that I'm fit and can hang with them.

For Saturday's ride I met up with two people from the LA Tri Club. We met in Santa Monica at 6am (!) and rode for about 4 hours and then did a short, easy transition run. I ended up riding with one of the guys pretty much the entire time, the other dude was a little behind us for most of the morning. It was nice to have company, but having someone else around did take some getting used to. I didn't ride in aero as much as I otherwise would have - either for safety reasons or because we were chatting during the ride. Also, there were a couple places where we stopped to let the other guy catch up. My inclination is not to want to interrupt my training or rhythm, but it's a fine trade-off for the company. I'll meet up with those guys for the Saturday ride when I can.

This weekend, I'm headed down to San Diego to ride Palomar Mountain with my Dad. We've never actually ridden together, and I'm really looking forward to it. He spends a ton of time on his bike and has done the Palomar climb before. The climb itself is nearly 12 miles with 4,300 feet of climbing. The total ride distance is 68 miles. I'll be fine with the distance, but I've never done a climb that long or with that elevation gain. Should be a exciting challenge for me.

Bike - May 21
Distance: 31.4 miles
Time: 1:45
Average heart rate: 123
Course: Ballona Creek Bike Path to Marina Del Ray, down Strand to Hermosa
Conditions: Sunny and warm, 70's

Brick - May 23
Total Time: 4:32
Bike:
Distance: 64.7 miles
Time: 4:04
Average heart rate: 119
Transition Time: 3:21
Run:
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 25 minutes
Average heart rate: 127
Conditions: Early (6am) start, a bit cloudy and low 60's to start, but burned off and got into high 60's and sunny by end

Bike - May 24
Distance: 5.25 miles
Time: 41 minutes
Average heart rate: 141
Course: West Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny, low 60's

LA Tri Club Griffith Park Brick - May 26
Total Time: 2:22
Bike:
Distance: 21.1 miles
Time: 1:14
Average heart rate: 136
Transition Time: 9:18
Run:
Distance: 7.1 miles
Time: 59:00
Average heart rate: 152
Conditions: Evening, low 70's/high 60's, sunny and clear

LA Tri Club Ocean Speed Circuit - May 27
Distance: 1,900 yards (5 short laps)
Time: 40 minutes
Water conditions: 63 degrees, calm

Indoor Bike - May 27
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 110

Group Workouts

Zero group training in four years, now two in 12 hours.

BRICK:

Last night I met up with the "World Famous" Tuesday Night Griffith Park Brick group for a long brick workout. The group meets at the LA Zoo parking lot at 5:30 on Tuesdays. Last night, we started with about 20 men and women and when the ride started, they shot out of the parking lot towards the LA River Bike Path, with the front group flying at a blazing fast speed of at least 26mph. I hung towards the back and even though I passed a bunch of people, there was no way I was catching the front group. At the end of the bike path (about 3.5 miles in), the group slowed to turn around and I caught up, but they took off again and since I started about 30 seconds behind them and they were riding in a pace group there was no way I was catching them. At about mile 9.5, the bike path ends and the climbing begins. The next part is a five mile climb up to the Griffith Park Observatory. It's a moderate-to-steep route that requires a lot of time in high gears. The climb is car-free, which is great, but the road isn't maintained very well, so there are some sizable pot holes, rough patches and places with thick sand. During the climb I caught some of the main group and then met up with the rest of them at the top. The descent is fun, but a bit hairy because of the curvy road and the crap conditions.

After getting back to the parking lot, the group re-grouped and after about a 10 minute wait for people to get ready, we were off on the 7.1 mile run. At this point there were only about eight of us, all guys. I'm not sure if there were others still behind us (I don't think so) or if the rest bailed after the ride. The run was hard - and fast. It's all on trails, but the first couple miles are on pretty loose sand. The first sand running I've done in years and I forgot how tough it is. There's also a lot of climbing - about 1,200 feet according to one of the guys. It's a beautiful run though, with great views of city and mountains to the south and east. The group mostly hung together for the first two or three miles but then a large pack split off the front. They were going faster than I was comfortable with, so I let them go. I ended up finishing the run with one other guy. We finished in about 57:30, which is about an 8 min/mile pace. With the hills and sand though, it felt more like we were going a full minute faster per mile! It was my longest run since Boston and the strongest effort I've given in a long time. Thankfully, I am still good running off the bike, even after a challenging effort.

It was different than most of my training, which has been long, steady, low heart rate efforts. The Ironman training requires that I do the lower intensity training and frankly I like that better these days, but pushing it once a week will be great for me. I met some pretty nice guys at the brick and will likely be back for some more of that pain in the coming weeks.

OCEAN SWIM:

After getting home and eating as much as possible as quickly as possible, I tried to catch a few hours of sleep before my 4:50 wake-up call to head to the beach for the LA Tri Club Wednesday Morning Ocean Speed Circuit. They set up two cones on the beach in Ocean Park about a hundred apart and you start at one cone, swim about 250 yards to a buoy, go around the buoy, and then swim back to the beach toward the second cone. Once out, you run across the beach to the starting cone and jump back in for another loop. Today I did four loops for about 2,000 yards.

I got to the beach at about 5:50 and met a couple of the guys from last night's brick. A little later I found Cat and Jeff and hung out with them while we waited for the swim to begin. Today was a special event because Inside Tri magazine was there to take pictures for an upcoming feature. So they took a big group photo (I'm near the back in the middle) and then we were off. The water was great! I think it was about 63 degrees, which is plenty warm in my wetsuit. It didn't even have that shocking feeling when I first got in. Probably a little too cold to go sans suit (for me, at least), but close. And it was very very calm. I finished my first loop and ran into Jeff on the beach, we ended up swimming together for each of the next three, which was really nice.

All in all, a great introduction to the LA Tri Club and to group training. After the last 12 hours, I'm glad to have the rest of the day off from training!

LA Tri Club Griffith Park Brick - May 19
Bike:
Distance: 21.3 miles
Time: 1:18
Average heart rate: 133
Transition Time: 9:11
Run:
Distance: 7.1 miles
Time: 57:30
Average heart rate: 155
Conditions: Evening, low 70's/high 60's, sunny and clear

LA Tri Club Ocean Speed Circuit
Distance: 2,000 yards (4 laps)
Time: 38 minutes
Water conditions: 63 degrees, calm

Join the Club

After many years of hemming and hawing, I've finally joined a tri club.* I officially became a member of the LA Tri Club.

The biggest reason I didn't join a club in NY was geography. There were clubs on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side that did most of their workouts in Central Park or Ashpalt Green or similar places. The Brooklyn Tri Club worked out in Prospect Park, obviously. I was "stuck" living in the middle of the City and couldn't bring myself to travel that far (either north or south) to train. The other reason was, similar to why I never joined a Master's Swim program was that I'm not much of a joiner and do well training on my own. And except for the Brooklyn Tri Club, the clubs in NY always struck me as a little to clique-y. I didn't (and don't) want triathlon to become my life and was worried that the clubs are too all-or-nothing and maybe take themselves a bit too seriously. (I know, I've never been a member so how can I judge? I shouldn't judge, but I do!)

Here in LA, though, I'm going to generally travel to train anyway. And the LA Triathlon Club has tons of workouts all across the city every day. And, even though, I'm resistant to the idea of being in a club, I'm going to give it a shot - start slowly and do it my own way. My friend, fellow blogger and pretty bad-ass triathlete, Cat, has been showing me the ropes in LA and has promised to direct me to the better members and training. I'm actually looking at doing two sessions with the Club this week. First, tomorrow evening there's a Brick (bike-run) workout at Griffith Park that sounds good (it will be my first Brick in many, many, many months, so I'll have to be careful. Then, on Wednesday morning, there's an open water swim in Santa Monica that sounds good. It's a bit early for me these days, but I'm excited to put on my wetsuit and get in the ocean, so hopefully that will get me out of bed!

*For the last few years, I've been "affiliated with" the Brooklyn Tri Club - but very loosely. I was a member of their email forum, went to one or two meetings and worked out with some members of the club, but I never officially joined.

Bike - May 13
Distance: 26.8 miles
Time: 1:38
Average heart rate: 132
Course: Griffith Park, LA River Bike Path, climb to Observatory
Conditions: Sunny, 80's

Run - May 14
Distance: 4.5 miles
Time:
Average heart rate:
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60's

Swim - May 15
Distance: 2,296 yards (2,100 meters)
Time: 40 minutes

Bike - May 15
Distance: 22.83 miles
Time: 1:27
Course: To Culver City pool (6.5 miles/30 minutes), Ballona Creek bike path (10 miles/40 minutes), home
Conditions: Sunny, 70's

Run - May 16
Distance: 4.7 miles
Time: 35 minutes
Average heart rate: 147
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Sunny, 70's

Bike - May 17
Distance: 58.7 miles
Time: 3:07
Average heart rate: 121
Course: Home to Malibu via Venice/Ocean/PCH and back
Conditions: Overcast, high 60's

Swim - May 18
Distance: 3,062 yards (2,800 meters)
Time: 1:00

Headed home

After a really good long weekend on the east coast, we're flying home in a few hours. And I'm ready. We spent Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday in Providence for a wedding. It's always fun going back to Providence. It's a great little city. I did one nice run around campus to check out the old stomping grounds. Sunday afternoon we flew to DC and spent the last couple days hanging out with family and some good friends we won't be seeing so often now that we're on the other coast.

It'll be nice to get home and see Charlie (who's been in very good hands with Loren and Eileen) and to get back in the pool and on the bike. I know that I still have plenty of time before Canada (nearly 16 weeks), but I know that it is going to quickly creep up on me.

Speaking of that... I had a pretty crazy Ironman anxiety dream last night. The first one that I can remember having. It started during the swim and I think I was having a pretty good swim, but part-way through the swim there was a "transition" from the lake into an indoor 25 yard (I think) pool. When I got to the pool, all the lanes were full of slow people just breaststroking or just barely moving. It took me a little while to find a lane where I could actually swim, but then the lane (yes, just my lane) EMPTIED OF WATER and instead of the usual slope from deep to shallow at the bottom of the pool there was a long set of stadium-like stairs. So, for some reason, I started "running" laps from one side to the other, up the stairs, down the stairs touching each wall. Also, a few friends were hanging out in the deep end just chatting. Then some other guy and his friend joined me, but THEY WERE TOTALLY CHEATING! They were counting more "laps" than they'd actually done and stopping to take regular breaks. After a little bit of this, I got worried that I was wearing out my legs for the bike and run, so I got out and tried to find a lane to actually swim in. But the pool was even worse than before and about half of it was closed off to lap swimming because there were kids in those lanes. And, TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, I couldn't find my goggles! At this point, I don't think anyone from the Ironman was left in the pool area. I looked at my watch and the time said 1:07, but then it switched to 1:37 and back again and again. Was I really the slowest swimmer in the race? And how could I finish if I couldn't get in the pool??? I asked some lady about where I could finish the swim, but I don't remember her answer because that's about where I woke up. WTF?!

Swim - May 7
Distance: 2,187 yards (2,000 meters)
Time: 40 minutes

Bike - May 7
Distance: 47.3 miles
Time: 2:30
Average heart rate: 127
Course: Malibu, north on PCH
Conditions: Hot (high 70s), sunny, strong headwind on way out

Run - May 9
Distance: 5.4 miles
Time: 41 minutes
Average heart rate: 141
Course: Providence, RI
Conditions: Mid-50's, drizzle

Strength - May 9

Run - May 10
Distance: 3.8 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 142
Course: Chevy Chase
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60's

Run - May 12
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 31 minutes
Average heart rate: 150
Course: Chevy Chase
Conditions: Sunny, 60

Master's Swimming

I swam with a Master's Team for the first time today. I've been thinking about working out with a Master's Team for a few years now and, in connection with the move, promised myself that I would try it in LA. I've avoided it because first, I like the flexibility of training when I want, second, my swimming goals are secondary to my Ironman and triathlon goals and third, frankly it's always intimidated me to swim with other people and be worried about keeping up or having bad form or whatever. On the other hand, I could probably use the push I would get from swimming with others and I also figured it could be a good way to meet people in town.

Today I swam with SCAQ (Southern California Aquatics). I did a "Distance-Quality" workout, which, in this case at least, meant sets of 150-300 meters, with some slower technique sets mixed in. It was a good workout and not nearly as scary as I thought it might be. I joined a lane and kept up pretty easily. I swam in the third lane out of four (the first lane is the fastest and fourth the slowest) and felt pretty comfortable there - I had to work to keep up, but it wasn't that much effort until the end of the workout. I think that after a few workouts, I will probably move up to the second lane, which was just a little faster than the third lane, and would probably be about right to get me working harder. I can see how swimming with the team pushes you - I definitely did not want to get caught from behind or fall too far back from the person in front of me!

My only real complaint is that I felt like some people were dogging it a little bit. But, as Elizabeth reminded me, everyone has their own reason for joining the swim and some of those people might just be out there for a little fun exercise.

Swimming with the group got me thinking a little about motivation. The first step in any fitness program is actually showing up and completing the training session. As four years of training mostly on my own indicates, I am very self-motivated when it comes to training. Coach John helps by setting up my weekly schedule, but once I know what he wants me to do, I'm doing it. I can't think of the last time I missed a workout because I just didn't feel like training. Some people might need that external pressure to get them to just go to the pool or to have a meaningful workout once there. That's not what I necessarily need from a Master's Program. But maybe swimming with a team will help me with the next set of goals - improving my swim technique and getting faster and more efficient in the water.

I'm not 100% sold yet, but I can definitely see the benefits so I'll join a few more workouts and take it from there.

Bike - May 2
Distance: 33.6 miles
Time: 2:03
Average heart rate: 126
Course: Griffith Park, Burbank
Conditions: Sun and clouds, 60's

Run - May 3
Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 34 minutes
Average heart rate: 147
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Sunny, 70

Indoor Bike - May 4
Time: 1:00
Average heart rate: 129

Run - May 5
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 146
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Sunny, 70

Swim - May 6
Distance: 3,280 yards (3,000 meters)
Time: 1:00

How It's Made - Custom Carbon Bikes (Guru Crono)

Tonight on "How It's Made 6" (Discovery Science, 9:30pm) one of the segments will show how the Guru Crono is made. There's a teaser for the episode here. The finished product has the same paint scheme as mine, but mine was first.